err Sg EE 
MENTHA PIPERITA. ORD. XIX. Verticillate. $37 
4 
Sp. Ch. M. flor. capitatis, fol. ovatis petiolati, staminibus corolla 
brevioribus. 
THE root is perennial, creeping, and furnished with many 
small fibres: the stems are erect, square, jointed, striated, some+ 
what branched towards the top, and rise about two feet in height: 
the leaves are egg-shaped, serrated, pointed, nerved, of a dark 
green colour, and stand in pairs upon footstalks: the flowers are 
small, purple, and produced in terminal spikes, separated into 
clusters: the calyx is tubular, permanent, reddish, striated, hairy, 
and‘ divided at the brim into five small pointed segments: the 
corolla is tubular, divided at the limb into four segments, of which 
the. uppermost is the broadest, and notched at-the apex: the fila- 
ments are two long and two short, tapering, and furnished with 
roundish anther: the germen_is divided into four parts, support- 
ing a slender erect style, which is longer than the corolla, and 
terminated by a cloven expanding stigma: the seeds are four, 
small, and lodged in the calyx. It is a native of England, affecting 
watery situations and banks of rivers, and flowers in August: 
The spontaneous erowth ‘of this plant is said to be peculiar to 
Britain; but as it is generally preferred to the other species of 
Mint, its cultivation has long been extended over Europe, and 
that employed here is commonly raised in gardens.- This species 
has a more penetrating smell than any of the other mints, and a 
much stronger and warmer taste, pungent and glowing like pepper, 
‘sinking as it were into the tongue, and followed by a sensation of 
coldness. 
« By maceration, or infusion, it readily and strongly impreg- 
nates both water and spirit with its virtue——In distillation with 
water it yields a considerable quantity of essential oil of a pale 
greenish yellow colour, growing darker coloured by age, very 
light, subtile, possessmg in a high degree the specific smel] and 
No. 29,—vou. 3. Ae 
